St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-04-07
TIE AVENGING BULLET
4 Young Wife Fatally Shoots the Man
Who Had Traduced Her Virtuous
Name.
Mrs. Bertha Hegener and John F. Murphy,
Both Of Minneapolis, the
Principals.
The story of Villains Attempts to
Wreck the Happiness of Whole
Family.
A Crowded Thoroughfare In the
SANITY City the Scene of the
Fatal Deed.

On the crowded thoroughfare, at the in
tersection of Third and Sbley streets, st.
Paul, at 5:25 yesterday afternoon, Mrs.
Bertha Hegener, wife of Charles Hegener,
a barber at 234 Fourth avenue, Minneapolis,
shot John f. Murphy, a young apprentice
in her husbands employ Mrs. Hegener at
once gave herself in charge of Officer Mos
nette and was taken to the county Jail.
Murphy was attended by Drs. Murphy and
Hoyt, and death pronounced only matter
of time. He was conveyed to st. JoSeph'S
hospital The bullet, which was from a
32-calibre Bull Dog" revolver, en-
tered at the base of the skull,
and lodged somewhere in his brain.
At o'clock last night Charles Hegener,
husband of the woman who did the shoot
ing, arrived from Minneapolis to see her.
and after conference with the detectives
was placed under arrest ard locked up as an
accomplice to the murder. Mrs. Hegener
is q handsome young woman Of %. She Is
a brunette with tinely-moulded GreciaD
features, expressive black eyes, and we'll
developed plump figure of medium height,
slender and graceful She wore yesterday
suiting of dark green, closely fitting
HER COMELT FORM,
and her ears were ornamented with pair
of solitaire diamond earrings. She is the
mother Of two children. the youngest OF
whom celebrated it's second birthday yeSter-
day. Her husband. Charles Hegener, is a
man of 81 years. of rather small stature.
wears black mouStache and SQuintS
slightly from one eye. Johnny Murphy, the
1N,,lln y ne
age and rather good looking. He is about
coarse coal-black hair, combed back
from nigh forehead, and a
black moustache. Murphy had worked
in Hegener's barber shop about a year. His
home is at Watertown. Wis, where he was
reared by widowed mother, and he has a
brother, n. Murphy, at Mandan, Oak, in
the employ Of TObin Il Drury. He was a
popular man with the ladies, and a number
of letters of recent date found on his per-
son, coming from young women in different
parts of Wisconsin and Illinois. indicate
that he had won and blighted their atfec
tionS. He often boasted of his prOweSs
with the fair sex. 1t was his unrighteous
desire to win the heart of Mrs. Hegener,
whom he professed to love. that brought
about the murder of yesterday.
THE MOTIVE OF THE CRIME.
The story of the circumstances leading
up to the crime is long and interesting, and
shows an almost juStifiable motive for the
shooting. Murphy, who was boarding in
his EMPLOYERS family, sought by every
means in his power to gain an influence
over Mrs. Hegeher, and finally made inn
proper proposals. which were rejected with
scorn. Mrs Hegener at once told her hus-
l1o 1lnI
count, Murphy claimed that he had already
accomplished his ends and tried to make
Hegener believe that ais wife had been ul-
faithful in the hope that in the disgrace
which would follow she would be willing
to accept way out of the trouble by mar
rying him. His plan was frustrated by the
trusting husband, who inquired thoroughly
into the matter, and on Monday Murphy
was forced to make a written statement to
the effect that his accusations were false.
After doing this he left Minneapolis and
came to ST. Paul. On Tuesday night he
wrote letter to Hegener's brother, re-af.
trming his former claim that he had had inter
course with Mrs. Hegener, and refuting his
written statement made the night before.
1t was this last attack upon her good name
which nerved Mrs Hegener to follow him
and seek vindication.
When the prison doors closed behind her
and she was left to a full realization of the
consequences of her act, her spirit, which
had not wavered as she stood above her fall
len victim, was broken down completely.
Interviewed in her cell as to the motive of
the crime she replied in tone of intense
earneStneSS:
He told my husband that he slept with me.
and it was but right to revenge myself. He
tried to separate me from my husband and
children.
Only once after the shooting did Murphy
become conscious at all, and then it was but
for a short time. AT o'clock in the
evening, i'll the presence of Drs. Hoyt and
Wells, he showed signs of
RETURNING CONSCIOUSNESS,
but was too weak from loss of blood to
talk. He was asked if he felt the bullet
and he said he didn't know. He then NUT
tered request for some wine.
DR.. Hoyt asked: Ibid Mrs. Hegener shoot
your and he nodded in the affirmative.
should she have shot you?" asked the
doctor, and he shook his head in the negative.
WAS Mrs Hegener bad woman?" The
sufferer paused a moment and then replied
with an affirmative nod and then relapsed
into Inconsistencies.
Mr.. Hegener had very little to say, and
the officials would not allow him to be
questioned. At the hospital, leaning over
the dying Murphy, GLOBE reporter found
two men whose testimony in the case will
be all important They were Arthur
Thompson, young barber, who worked
beside Murphy in Hegener's shop and who
was present when Murphy confessed the
falsity of his disgracing statement, and
Otto Wettwer, clerk at the Winona
house, directly opposite the depot, where
Mrs. Hegener and Murphy first met yester-
day.
Arthur Thompson arose with tears in his
eyes, aftera fruitleSs endeavor to get recog-
nition from Murphy, and told the following
story:
Murphy has been slyly trying ever since he
has been there to gain Mrs. Hegener's affec-
ion, but she repuised him and would have
nothing to do with him. and would have told
her husband some time ago, only she was
afraid it would make an awful row. 1t was
only lately that he made improper proposals
to her, insulting her, and she has told her
husband that Jack was insulting her. Charley
went right to Jack and asked him what he
meant by
INSULTING HIS WIFE.
and Jack in order to get Mrs. Hegener away
from Charley told him u lot of lies about his
wife. He claimed that he had been intimate
with her right along, and that he had been
criminally intimate with her and that he had
stopped with her number of times. He told
whole lot more stuff that isn't necessary to
put in the papers. Charley went to his wife
with this story right before me. She would
nave shot him then only took the revolver
away by main force from her. That was
night before last. l went to Jack and made
aim own up. He told me he loved her SC
we'll that he took this method of getting her
away from Charley-to get him to repulse
her and drive her away from him. He
thought he could win her in her despair by
defending her. He then made written
statement OF the facts in my room in the
Parker house before me and Hegener and
another man named Nelson, and after he